This document provides an overview of genetics and Gregor Mendel's experiments with pea plants. It summarizes Mendel's work, including that he conducted monohybrid crosses using pea plants with distinct traits like seed shape, color, and size. Through his careful experiments and quantitative analysis, Mendel discovered the laws of inheritance and developed an understanding of dominant and recessive traits. His work laid the foundations for modern genetics although it was not widely recognized until many decades later.